


lost in your divine

by johnnyslisp



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Attempt at Humor, Demigods, M/M, welcome to camp nct!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-04 04:05:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18335822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnnyslisp/pseuds/johnnyslisp
Summary: Jaehyun groans at the puddle of coffee on the floor. He had just mopped earlier and now he's positive they’re both going to be called into Taemin’s office first thing Monday morning. He opens his mouth to throw an insult at Doyoung's inability to serve coffee when he suddenly notices his coworker is holding a fucking sword to the soccer mom’s throat.He can confidently say his training never covered this during orientation.





	1. soccer moms and vanilla lattes

**Author's Note:**

> first off, thank u to my gc for listening to me bounce off fic ideas nonstop, and most importantly, hyping me the fuck up! i love u both. 
> 
> i'm excited to finally start this percy jackson au, so fingers crossed and let's go!! 
> 
>  

It’s a Tuesday. 

There’s nothing special about Tuesdays. Tuesdays are when Jaehyun works his 3-8PM shift at the cafe by the library, serving shitty coffee to bleary-eyed ivy league students. He wouldn’t say he hates his job, but like everything in his life, it’s mediocre. 

He shouldn’t complain. His life of complacency is a breath of fresh air compared to the past 18 years spent traveling with his single mother. As the sole son to an aviation officer, he had grown accustomed to never growing attached to a specific home. 

Jaehyun wouldn’t go as far as saying Connecticut was his favorite location (that would be San Diego), but at the very least he could appreciate the change of pace. As long as his mother was content with her life of retirement in the East Coast, Jaehyun would remain agreeable. His life was comfortable, albeit being a college dropout, he had no room to complain.

“Could today drag on any slower?” Jaehyun complains.

He turns toward his coworker, Doyoung, who’s furiously scribbling in a notebook, glasses askew as he works on his assignment. Jaehyun thinks he looks like a goblin all curled up on the stool in the corner, shoulders hunched up. He debates throwing a coffee cup at his head but decides that Doyoung’s wrath isn’t worth it.

“Finals are over. Fewer kids, gah,” Doyoung mutters back. He’s clearly not interested in whatever Jaehyun has to say. No surprise here. Doyoung has always kept to himself, using slow periods at work to study for his Master’s program. 

“Right on,” he replies lamely. 

He uses the next 30 minutes to tighten his apron, wipe off the counters, refill the sugar packets, and scroll through his Instagram feed. 

“You think I should get a tattoo?” He asks Doyoung. In reality, he’s talking more to himself. Doyoung is muttering in the corner again, fingers clenching around his pencil. 

“Maybe I’ll dye my hair blue,” Jaehyun muses. “Or even get an ass tattoo. What do you think, maybe a portrait of your face?” 

Doyoung emits a gurgling sound. Jaehyun sighs, he’s lost him. He continues to double tap down his Instagram feed, eyes boring into a picture of his ex and her new boyfriend in Cabo. “Hey Doyoung, fancy going to Mexico?” he tries again, receiving only radio silence from his coworker. 

It’s pathetic but Doyoung is the closest thing he has to a friend. After dropping out of college at the mere age of 20, Jaehyun had failed to keep contact with his old friends. Of course, most of them have either graduated at this point or were graduating this year. He figures they’ll be too busy to even spend the time to someone who got kicked out from academic probation. 

Pathetic. 

He’s too busy feeling sorry for himself to notice the customer walking through the doors. It’s not until he hears someone clearing their throat obnoxiously that he rapidly turns around, neck flushing red. 

“Hi sorry! Welcome to the Roast,” he shoots what he hopes is a charming smile. When the lady across from him is clearly unaffected, he turns to look abashed. 

“What will you be having-” the woman in question, beach blonde and tanned holds a finger up to his face, silencing him. 

She’s wearing one of those velour sweatsuits, her hot pink tote bag over her left arm home to one of the ugliest fucking dogs Jaehyun has ever seen in his life. He stares at the hideous thing, black eyes blinking back as if to say _back up coffee boy!_ Jaehyun can’t remember the company policy of dogs in the store, but he’s sure that his manager, Taemin, would have a fit with the black hairless animal panting in the store. 

“I’ll have a medium latte. Vanilla, and could you make that with oat milk,” the lady across from him rambles off. 

Jaehyun breaks out of his daze, shaking his head as he brings his attention from the dog to the woman. He notices that she has an awful spray tan, looking more orange than the sunkissed glow she had probably wanted to aim for. 

“Uhhh…” he replies, his mind momentarily cloudy. 

“Medium vanilla latte with oat milk coming up!” Doyoung calls, suddenly on his feet, school work is forgotten. 

Jaehyun momentarily thanks him for saving his ass as he punches in the order, collecting the extended card from the woman’s taloned hold. 

He hands her the receipt, narrowing his gaze when she doesn’t move from the register to the designated coffee pick up station. His eyes meet her stare, unease pooling in his stomach when he notices that she’s peering at his chest. 

“My eyes are up here,” Jaehyun tries weakly, flashing another grin that slowly slides off his face as he makes eye contact. He never noticed that her eyes were such a brilliant shade of green. The feeling in his stomach begins to move up his throat.

“Hey are those contacts,” he subtly moves in closer only for the dog in her bag to let out a warning growl. He snaps back to his position, eyeing the creature. It flashes its yellow teeth in his direction, warning him to _back the fuck up._

Jaehyun steps back.

“All natural baby,” she all but purrs, stepping closer to the counter. She staring at him now with interest, focused on his throat with calculating eyes. He brings his hand up to his neck, rubbing at the skin as he warily glances at the customer. 

She definitely wasn’t the weirdest person to visit the Roast, but she was starting to lick her lips. Jaehyun wasn’t sure whether to take this as a compliment or as a sign to run. He was starting to lean toward the latter when the dog began to drool. 

“Oh, cool.” Jaehyun thought Doyoung could hurry up with that coffee order sometime soon. While blonde bimbo was looking at him like was a half discounted snack at Whole Foods, Doyoung was making shitty foam art. 

“Here’s your drink,” Doyoung pops up behind Jaehyun, causing him to jump slightly. _Took you long enough_ he thinks, watching as the woman grabs the coffee...and Doyoung doesn’t let go. She gives Doyoung a relaxed smile, head tilting to the side. 

“How curious. Isn’t it curious, Orthrus?” she murmurs, eyes dancing with delight as her smile relaxes. The dog, Orthrus, yips in response. “What are you doing so far from home?” she directs her question toward his coworker. 

Jaehyun is watching the interaction with piqued interest. Doyoung usually prefers to have the least amount of customer interaction as possible. Jaehyun figures that maybe he has a thing for suburban soccer moms. Perhaps a one night stand gone wrong? 

Doyoung’s face twists into an unpleasant grimace as he glares at the dog. It’s a tense minute before he decides to snap his eyes back to the smiling owner of the pet.

“Have a good day… _ma’am_ ,” he finally releases the coffee, ignoring her question. Soccer mom decides to release her grip as well, causing the coffee to spill across the freshly cleaned tiles. “Oh would you look at that,” she gasps, “You ruined my shoes!” 

Jaehyun groans at the puddle of coffee on the floor. He had just mopped earlier and now he's positive they’re both going to be called into Taemin’s office first thing Monday morning. He opens his mouth to throw an insult at Doyoung's inability to serve coffee when he suddenly notices his coworker is holding a fucking sword to the soccer mom’s throat. 

He can confidently say his training never covered this during orientation.

“Doyoung?” he tries, his voice sounds far too loud for the situation. 

The lady is still smiling, eyes flicking to meet Jaehyun in a wide grin. He can’t understand why she isn’t screaming or demanding to see their manager at this point. Jaehyun truly thinks white women are a different breed at this point. 

“Get back, now” Doyoung shoots off rapidly. He’s positioned himself in a defensive stance, still keeping his focus on the growling dog. Jaehyun could have sworn it’s grown at least twice its size in the last minute. 

“He smells so delicious. What have you been hiding,” the woman muses, eyes raking up and down Jaehyun. It’s Doyoungs turn to be surprised, eyes widening before turning into a glare. “He’s just a civilian, leave him out of this,” he hisses, arms raising to point the sword toward the direction of the dog. 

“He’s no civilian.” 

Three sets of eyes turn to look toward Jaehyun, each appraising him. Doyoung looks like he wants to say more, but considering the woman’s skin is starting to melt he has bigger issues on his plate. 

Jaehyun gasps as the woman literally turns into a puddle of skin on the floor, knees threatening to buckle with each passing moment. His mind is screaming at him to _runrunrunhidehidehide!!_ but all he can do is press himself against the wall and watch as the woman’s dog grows into a two-headed beast with a scaled tail. 

Doyoung hisses between his teeth as the dog, no scratch that, the _beast_ continues to grow in size. Eventually, his head breaks through the ceiling of the roof, both mouths snapping and foaming. Jaehyun has to dodge the falling piece of ceiling, adrenaline suddenly coursing through his veins. 

The smell of rotting meat and well, dog breath, fills the enclosure. Jaehyun feels dizzy. Should he call someone? No, his phone is too far to reach now, and besides what the fuck is he supposed to say? He determines his best course of action is to cower behind Doyoung. 

How pathetic. He’s cowering behind the boy who can’t even carry the 50lb boxes of coffee beans during inventory. Considering now that he’s brandishing a fucking sword he guesses it was more of an issue of laziness than weakness. 

They’re both going to die.

“We’re going to die,” Jaehyun states.

“Can you shut the fuck up,” Doyoung calls back. “How the fuck can you see this,” he sounds bewildered. “How the fuck can he see this,” he repeats under his breath. 

Jaehyun wishes he couldn’t see this. He once watched his best friend break his leg, the bone sticking out and all, and that has to be a million times better than the sight before him. The monster and Doyoung are circling around each other, assessing the challenge before them. He fills his nerves bubbling up, throat growing tight as he sees how fucking small Doyoung is compared to the 15 foot something monstrosity. 

“Are you going to do something?” Jaehyun all but screeches out, eyes bugging at the size of the left head snapping at Doyoung. 

“Give me a fucking minute,” Doyoung snaps back. He’s sliding across the floor between fallen chairs to stab at the left mouth of the beast. The right head looks amused, snapping at his legs as if to bait the smaller boy. 

Jaehyun does the only thing he can think of. He throws a bag of coffee beans at the head. Fuck. Wrong move. 

Orthrus is moving toward him now, sniffing and drooling as it approaches him at lightning speed. 

His chest feels tight, the hairs all over his body beginning to stand up in fear. He’s truly going to die. He didn’t even get to tell his mother he loved her before he left the house this morning. Jaehyun throws another bag of beans, wincing when the beast swallows it whole.  
“Doyoung!” he shrieks, eyes wincing for the bite that never comes. 

Orthrus is howling in pain, turning around to let out a whimper and snap at the boy who just cut off his tail. 

Jaehyun internally cheers. 

Doyoung: 1  
Orthrus: 0

Jaehyun’s face falls when Doyoung, attempting to slide under Orthrus and stab his belly, is swatted away. His thin body crumples against the counter, sword falling out of his limp hand with a loud clatter. 

Doyoung & Jaehyun: -112221  
Orthrus: +10000

Both Jaehyun and Orthrus eye the sword. Well Jaehyun eyes the sword, the dog is looking at Jaehyun like he’s his favorite new chew toy. 

He’s never been called brave before, but Jaehyun thinks he’s pretty damn brave as he feels his legs willing him to run toward the weapon in Doyoung’s hand. 

Sliding across fallen beans and hopping over fallen ceiling pieces proves to be more of an obstacle course than he thought. He’s wheezing by the time he reaches Doyoungs crumpled body. Jaehyun’s heart clenches seeing his skewed glasses and the trickle of blood flowing down his forehead. He has no time to worry as he does the only thing he can think of and grabs the sword from his weak grasp. 

He rapidly turns around, holding the sword with shaking hands. His arms are wobbling violently as he points the sword toward the monster. 

“Stay back, beast!” Yeah, that sounds right. He waves the sword again in an attempt to feign confidence. 

The monster only approaches closer, slowly this time as if Jaehyun was some sort of bait he could play with. 

His chest grows impossibly tighter, goosebumps breaking across his pale skin as he raises the sword higher. “I’m warning you..” Jaehyun watches the sword as it begins to smoke, dark clouds rolling off the sword and toward the monster. 

He continues to hold the sword considering if it’s too late to impale himself. At this point death by sword seems a hell of a lot better than death by an oversized chihuahua. 

The sword continues to smoke, this time accompanied by crackles of electricity bouncing off the metal conduit. “What the fuck..” Jaehyun mumbles under his breath. Drops begin to fall on his skin, slowly at first but with a crack of thunder, fat drops begin to pour down. He spares a second to look up toward the open ceiling to see that the weather has drastically changed. 

Dark clouds have rumbled in, the sky looking monstrous as a flicker of lightning flashes on both of their faces. The monster, tired of playing this game grows closer to Jaehyun, teeth snapping against his face.

Jaehyun can do the only thing he can think of. He closes his eyes and stabs.

Nothing happens.

He opens his eyes to see that cracks of electricity are coming out of the sword, his body illuminated by harsh light. The beast is frozen in time, both heads open as electricity courses through its body. Thunder rumbles loudly as Jaehyun crumples to his knees, feeling lightheaded. 

“It’s just a dream,” he mumbles, watching the monster disintegrate in front of his eyes in golden specks. 

“It’s just a dream,” he repeats as a stumbling Doyoung grabs the sword out of his hands, eyes filled with fear and suspicion. 

“It’s not real,” are his last words before Doyoung hits the back of his head with the blunt handle of the sword. 

His body crumples to the ground. 

 

⚡

Jaehyun has nightmares. He dreams of a two-headed dog gnawing on his legs, Doyoung’s lifeless eyes staring back at him as he attempts to crawl away. It’s during his fourth reoccurring dream that he opens his eyes, a moan slipping out of his lips as he blinks away the brightness hitting his face. 

“Ughnnhh?” he mumbles out, rubbing the sleep out of his eye with the back of his hand. 

He’s laying in the back of a car. His body feels like it’s on fire, his chest still tight and the scent of burnt flesh stuck in his nose. Jaehyun tries to make sense of his surroundings but he can only assume this is another hyper-realistic dream. 

Doyoung is at the wheel of the car, talking nonsense into his phone as he swerves the wheel right. Jaehyun feels his body jostle, a groan rumbling through his body as his head hits the inside of the car door. 

“Fuck he’s up,” Doyoung scrambles, wide eyes appraising the situation. Jaehyun wants to ask where the fuck he’s being taken to. Shouldn’t they have called someone? Stayed at the shop? Jaehyun has a million questions but the pain in his chest is too much to form words. 

“Go back to sleep,” he hears over the tinny speakerphone. The voice is deep and soothing, convincing Jaehyun that maybe sleep is the best option. “You’re getting sleepy,” the voice supplies. It’s like he’s being rocked to sleep, suddenly, the rocking of the car making his eyelids heavier. 

“Sleep,” Jaehyun agrees, yawning as the ache in his chest begins to dull. The last thing he sees is Doyoung’s eyes, wide and unblinking. 

 

⚡

“Do you think he’s awake yet? I hope he’s awake.”

Jaehyun keeps his eyes shut, feeling too taxed to brave the bright sunlight he knows is going to greet him the minute he opens his lids. He opts to stay still, greedily taking time to reenergize his body. On the plus side, the ache in his chest is gone and the scent of burnt flesh is replaced with the smell of something indescribably sweet. 

“Oh look how handsome he is,” the male voice continues. He can feel a cold hand trace the outlines of his face. It tickles. Jaehyun wonders if this is another dream but his sleep induced haze is quickly beginning to fade. 

The hand moves down to lift his arm, gently squeezing his bicep. Jaehyun feels a tug in his gut, he knows he should open his eyes before this goes too far. 

“Taeyong, he could totally be in our house,” his arm begins to shake as the voice wiggles his body in excitement. 

Jaehyun’s eyes snap open, the jostling causing him to let out a small gasp of surprise. He’s surprised to be met with the golden rays of late afternoon, blearily blinking as his vision begins to unblur. 

He’s laying on a bed in a small room, the rays of sunlight gleaming through white curtains fluttering with the late spring breeze. At least he’s somewhere clean he muses, taking in the crisp white shirt he’s wearing. He briefly wonders if the boy holding onto his hand dressed him, he hopes not. 

The boy in question presses against him, holding his hand in excitement as he sits half his body on the bed to face Jaehyun. His hair is the color of sand, framed against a soft face and peering into him with the lightest shade of pink eyes. 

Wait, pink eyes? 

Jaehyun blinks again. His eyes are dark brown, not pink, he realizes. He shakes his head twice, thinking that all this sleep must finally be getting to his head. 

“Who are you? Where am I?” his voice is hoarse. He clears it twice before the boy scrambles to grab him a glass of water from the side table. 

“Sorry, sorry!” he apologizes. He sticks a pink bendy straw into the drink, offering it toward Jaehyun shyly. He flutters his eyelashes twice, watching Jaehyun’s lips intently as he sucks down the water. 

“I’m Jungwoo,” he brandishes a damp towel, lightly dabbing at Jaehyun’s forehead. “And you had a nasty little accident,” he coos, brushing the hair off of Jaehyun’s head. “But, Taeyong and Donghyuck fixed you all up! Well Donghyuck did all the work, Taeyong just played nurse,” he frowns before switching into a bright smile. 

Jaehyun winces, his smile is far too bright, making his head dizzy. Jungwoo continues to dab at his forehead, humming. “You’re at our HQ,” he says it obviously as if Jaehyun should know. “Well actually, you’re in our medical wing,” he brandishes one arm in excitement. 

Jaehyun looks around noticing the empty beds surrounding him. It’s a sterile environment, yet it feels too homey that makes him suspect that he’s not actually in a hospital. That and the bow and arrows on the wall. Jaehyun doesn’t remember Connecticut Community Hospital having _those_ as decor. 

“Medical wing...” his voice trails off as he catches sight someone else leaning against the left wall. 

Wide eyes blink back at him. He feels a wave of heat rush through him, uncomfortable as he pulls the sheets around his body tighter to his chest. 

“Hey...Jaehyun, yeah? I’m Taeyong,” he does some awkward sort of wave, quickly dropping it when Jaehyun doesn’t reciprocate his greeting. He glances over at Jungwoo who is playing with Jaehyun’s left hand. 

“Can you stop that?” he moves closer to the bed, voice exasperated as Jungwoo unashamedly drops his hand. 

“My bad,” Jungwoo flashes an unapologetic smile toward Jaehyun, eyes flashing pink again. “ I said stop it,” Taeyong is hitting the back of his head now, face aghast as he turns to look toward Jaehyun. “Look what you're doing,” he all but hisses.

Both of the boys turn to stare at Jaehyun, who now realizes he has a dopey smile on his face. “Oh, sorry! I don’t know how to control my powers yet,” Jungwoo giggles, sounding like melted honey and tinkling bells. He moves to stand, not before petting Jaehyun’s hand again. “I’m going to let the others know he woke up,” he informs Taeyong. He leaves the room with a wink, the sweet scent following him. 

“Sorry about him,” Taeyong makes a move to step forward, his hands fidgeting as he studies Jaehyun’s face. “He’s touchy, but he means well,” he steps into the light. 

Jaehyun nearly gasps, biting his bottom lip as he catches sight of the boy across from him. He didn’t think people that people that beautiful actually existed. Taeyong was a walking, photoshopped, an after of a before facetuned model. He wills himself to be cool, his hands clenching tightly as he tries to ignore the beautiful boy across from him and focus on the situation at hand. 

He’s in a random bed, location undisclosed with a throbbing headache. Jaehyun presses his fingers to his forehead. 

“Uh yeah, don’t worry about it,” he stares at the bridge of Taeyong’s nose, suddenly way too fucking shy to make direct eye contact with the boy across from him. 

“Are you... Dude, are you a model?” he blurts out, cheeks flushing at his inability to play cool and ask questions that actually matter. 

Taeyong blinks back in surprise, mouth opening slightly as his own cheeks flush. “Me? I, uh, no. I’m, what?” he lets out a huff of surprise. His eyes flicker toward the door and back to Jaehyun, taking a step back so he’s covered by shadows again. 

Jaehyun clears his throat, fighting against the wave of embarrassment that rushes through his body.

“Sorry,” he replies in the smallest voice he can muster. “Could you..tell me where I am? he tries again. He leans forward, trying to prop himself up in the bed. He’s surprised that his body feels normal, he wiggles his fingers and toes to double check. All good. 

Taeyong’s eyes soften, rushing forward to help reposition the pillows behind Jaehyun’s back so he’s more comfortable. 

Jaehyun finds himself inhaling a new scent, sharp and clean. As quick as Taeyong came to help, he hurried back to his wall. 

“You’re at…” Taeyong looks at him, eyes indescribable. “You’re outside New York,” he finally chooses, crossing his arms. 

Jaehyun chokes on his straw, eyes widening as he scrambles to get out of bed. “I need to get home,” he gestures with his arms, feet hitting the cold tile. 

His legs feel shaky, head spinning from the sudden movement. Taeyong is right there, one arm wrapping around his waist to support his weight. 

“Can you calm down,” he scowls, pushing Jaehyun to sit back on the bed. “You’ve been out for nearly 24 hours, you need to take it easy,” he adds in a softer voice.

Jaehyun’s head is spinning. 24 hours? He’s missed work. Well, whatever is left of work. Most importantly, he knows his mom must be freaking out by now. Tuesday Night was Taco Night, and he just knew his mom would already be hunting Jaehyun down for skipping. 

“I need to call my mom. Do you have a phone? Can I borrow your phone?” Jaehyun pleads. He pats down his body, realizing his new iPhone is definitely not where he last put it. “Where the fuck is my phone,” he mutters, eyes scanning the room for a telephone, a carrier pigeon, literally anything. 

“Hey relax,” Taeyong lowers his voice, one hand coming to rest on his shoulder. Jaehyun starts, his head spinning wildly when he realizes he recognizes the voice. “Hey, you’re the voice that was on the phone with Doyoung! The one who told me to sleep. Where is he? That fucker hit me!” He exclaims, progressively getting himself more worked up by the second. 

“Relax,” Taeyong repeats, no commands, fingers digging into Jaehyun’s shoulder. He slumps forward, a rush of relaxation rushing through his body. His mind momentarily blanks out, that same dopey smiley from earlier returning to his face.

“Relax,” Jaehyun repeats, nodding his head staring into Taeyong’s pretty pink eyes. He’s starting to think that Taeyong is the prettiest person he’s ever seen. Soon his head is only filled with pink, wide eyes and soft lips. 

“Hey, what’s with your eyes,” he reaches one hand out, ready to press his fingers against the side of Taeyong’s face when the door opens. Doyoung tentatively opens the room, Jungwoo and a small, tanned boy darting in behind him. 

“Doyoung!” Jaehyun exclaims, wagging his finger towards his ex-coworker. His head feels cloudy, and he swears he’s never felt so relaxed in his life. “You’re a naughty boy,” he pouts, “You hit me, that wasn’t very nice.” 

He tries to be angry at Doyoung, truly, but Taeyong’s words keep running through his head. 

“Why does he look like that?” the smaller boy moves forwards, pushing Taeyong aside to hold Jaehyun’s head with two warm hands. He looks at Taeyong, eyebrows furrowing with annoyance.

“What did you do?” 

“Just a bit of charmspeak..”

“He told me to relax, so I did,” Jaehyun supplies helpfully. “Did you know his eyes are pink?” He turns to Jungwoo, “Just like yours!” Jungwoo startles, looking toward Taeyong. “I thought you said you weren’t going to use your powers,” he sing-songs. 

Doyoung sighs, “Hyuck, can you fix him?” he presses his fingers to the bridge of his nose. 

“I can’t leave to eat for 30 minutes without one of you fucking shit up,” he presses his hands harder to Jaehyun’s face, squinting in concentration. 

“Owww..” Jaehyun winces at the pressure. “That kind of hurts, and dude, are you hands glowing?” It’s not just his hands, the boy is covered by a golden glow, illuminated from the inside. Jaehyun thinks that he looks like a night light, but judging by the frown on his face he thinks it’s best not to mention it. Plus the fogginess in his head is starting to clear the brighter he glows.

After half a minute, Jaehyun can feel his emotions rushing back to him. The surge of anger that hits him feels like a tsunami wave. He opens his mouth in anger, turning to look at Taeyong whose eyes blink back dark brown. 

“What did you do to me?” he scrambles back on the bed to glare at Taeyong. He should have known better to trust the pretty boy, his mom always told him pretty people didn’t know how to act properly. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you would have such an adverse reaction.” 

“You’re sorry for what? Messing with my brain? What the fuck are you? What is this?” Jaehyun can feel his emotions bubbling, his face flushing red as he turns to look at the people surrounding him. 

“Can someone tell me where I am,” Jaehyun feels that familiar tightness in his chest returning. No one is speaking, his brain working in overdrive and telling him that panicking is the best action. First off, he knows his mom is freaking out by now, and god forbid his plants die because he wasn’t there to water them. 

“You need to calm down,” Doyoung finally speaks, hesitantly taking a step forward. He has one hand outreached as if to soothe Jaehyun. 

“Don’t fucking touch me,” Jaehyun snaps. He remembers Doyoung hitting him, but to be honest he’s more bitter that his coworker of two years was a sword-wielding monster fighter in disguise. He could have warned Jaehyun at the very least, then maybe he would have had the gull to take out life insurance. 

“Well, I’m Donghyuck, and you’re smoking,” his healer states matter of factly. 

Jaehyun looks down with a start, noticing that dark tendrils of smoke are coming out from his hands. 

What the fuck. 

The tightness in his chest increases, the amount of smoke increasing as Jaehyun begins to tremble. He’s got his eyes closed now, breathing deeply and willing that tightness to just go the fuck away before his body starts to implode. 

He counts to 10. Maybe his best course of action wouldn’t be freaking out in a room of complete strangers. Jaehyun can only handle so much embarrassment and having 4 strangers witness a mental breakdown would be the end of it all. He waits another ten seconds, letting the silence drag on. When he finally opens his eyes, he’s relieved to find his hands are only letting out soft puffs of white smoke. 

“What’s wrong with me?” he finally asks, looking up at Donghyuck. 

An overwhelming sense of dread clouds over him, the silence of the room only worsening his anxiety. 

“Nothing is wrong with you,” Donghyuck finally supplies. “Well, nothing is wrong with you now, not after I fixed you up. You had some gnarly burns and a concussion,” he turns to glare at Doyoung who at least has the decency to look guilty. 

“Sorry about that, I needed to get you here without... too much trouble, and you were ah…” Doyoung looks at Jaehyun’s smoking hands. “You were doing that, and more,” he waves his hands in Jaehyun’s direction. 

“And more? What the fuck does that mean? You couldn’t have just talked to me like a normal person?”

“We didn’t have time,” Doyoung stresses, eyes flitting around the room. “Monster attacks generally let out a type of signal... If we stayed any longer we would have been the perfect bait and neither of us was prepared for another fight. I’m sorry it had to be this way,” he was gesturing wildly, letting his hands drop to his side. 

“And where are we?” Jaehyun presses, his mind rapidly trying to process the information. If monsters existed, what did that make him? He had fucking smoking hands, did that make him a monster? 

“What am I?” he holds out his hands to the group, shaking them for emphasis. 

Taeyong winces. “You’re a... demigod.” 

“A demigod?” Jaehyun repeats. “Like that Greek mythology shit?’ 

“Well, actually you’re the half son of Zeus-” Donghyuck offers. He looks like he would be anywhere rather than explaining this to Jaehyun. He has one hip jutted out, eyes appraising him as if he were some measly worm. “Congratulations. Can I go now? I have dinner plans.” he looks toward Doyoung who nods his head in exasperation. 

“You’re welcome by the way, for like saving your life.” Jaehyun watches the door slam behind him, rapidly blinking at the closed door.

“A son of Zeus?” Jungwoo breaks the silence, his voice in awe as he peeks over Doyoung’s shoulder to stare at Jaehyun. “That’s so cool,” he breathes out dreamily. 

Taeyong turns to stare at Doyoung. “Zeus? Really?” he hisses out. “And you didn’t bother to tell the rest of us? I used _charmspeak_ on him. It’s no wonder a bolt of lightning didn’t come out of the sky and strike me dead,” Taeyong begins to mutter under his breath. 

Jaehyun presses his lips together, trying to process the information. Zeus. There was no fucking way. He tried to piece together memories of his father, anything that his mom had brought up. All he knew was that they had met while she was stationed in Osan, his mother remained tight-lipped about the rest of the details. The most he had gotten was that Jaehyun had his eyes. 

Some god to skip out the minute he was born, he thinks. 

“Taeil thought it was best that we didn’t tell anyone… but he had the mark,” Doyoung’s voice trails off as he stares at Jaehyun. “Can you stop staring at us and say something?” 

“Sorry, but if I’m the son of Zeus, then what are you?” he blurts out. He’s still on the fence about this whole demigod thing but nothing else can explain why there was a monster destroying his part-time workplace. 

“Athena, goddess of wisdom and war,” Doyoung puffs out his chest proudly. “Usually, we tend to stick closer to the base, strength in numbers and all, but I got accepted into Yale’s master program,” he shrugs.

“Some son of war…” Jaehyun says under his breath. He doesn’t miss the snort Taeyong lets out. 

Doyoung flushes, his hand reaching to scratch the back of his neck. “I may have…made a failed calculation. I didn’t expect to run into such a powerful monster in Connecticut. They usually flock toward the city,” his face is red. “And you. I didn’t, you didn’t have any tellings that you were such a powerful demigod,” he makes eye contact with Jaehyun. 

“And you two?” Jaehyun turns toward the boys with the pink eyes, narrowing his own in distrust. “Don’t think I didn’t forget what you did to me,” he crosses his arms, faking bravado.

“Aphrodite,” Taeyong supplies, “Goddess of love and beauty,” Jungwoo finishes, throwing heart fingers in Jaehyun’s direction with an exaggerated wink. 

“And I’m sorry about the charmspeak earlier, I didn’t know how else to calm you down. You were freaking out and well..” his voice trails off.

“Why wouldn’t I freak out? You just told me I’m a demigod. That’s normal. That’s perfectly normal,” he lets out a laugh, clenching his fists. “So you figured you could what? Compel me into doing what you wanted?” 

He knows it’s unfair to take his emotions out of Taeyong, but he feels a weight lift off his chest. “Look, I’m sorry. I need to go home, my mom is probably wondering where I am,” he swings his legs off the bed, making a move to stand up before one hand is on his chest, forcibly pushing him to sit back on the bed. 

“Your mom knows where you are,” Doyoung sighs. “She knows everything, I don’t know why she didn’t bother to inform someone earlier,” he lowers his voice, “would have saved us the trouble.” 

“You can call her tomorrow, when we go get you some new clothes,” Doyoung eyes him warily. “We aren’t allowed to use phones here,” he shrugs, “attracts monsters.” 

"So what now?" Jaehyun presses. "Can I go home now? If I leave now," he glances outside, doing a double take when he notices the rolling green hills of the countryside, "I should be home in less than two hours..." his voice trails off. 

"About that. You can't really go home." Doyoung sits beside him on the bed, twisting his body to press a hand against Jaehyun's shoulder. 

"Welcome to Camp NCT, home to demigods and magical creatures alike! We hope you understand that while you might miss home, NCT is now the safest option for-" 

"Are you giving me a welcome speech?" Jaehyun swats his hand away, neck flushing. Taeyong and Jungwoo let out soft sighs of exasperation no doubt used to the cheesy spiel of shit Doyoung was about to recite.

"So sorry for trying to inform you, my bad, big guy. You know what, I have paperwork to fill out. Your paperwork more specifically," he stands up turning his nose up to sniff at Jaehyun. 

"But wait, I have more questions, you can't just leave me like this!" 

"Actually, I can. Taeyong you mind escorting him to his room? Jungwoo, don't you have equestrian training? What are you even doing here?" Doyoung turns to the youngest boy, exasperation written all over his face. 

Jungwoo shrugs, eyeing his nails. "I just thought he was cute," he smiles at Jaehyun again, waving his fingers and tilting his head. 

Doyoung releases a tired sigh, "Listen, we'll talk more tomorrow, but it's been a long day. I'm getting my ass chewed out from the big guys up there," he points toward the ceiling, "and the cleaning harpy's won't stop whining about having to clean your cabin." 

Jaehyun momentarily feels bad. It's clear Doyoung is exhausted by the bags under his eyes. He briefly wonders if he even slept after their fight. Considering how Doyoung used to pull all-nighters from studying and working a shift after, he figures he hasn't. 

"Thanks for not letting me die," Jaehyun blurts out. Doyoung's shoulders soften. "Sorry, I just, it's all, this is all new. I don't mean to take this all out on you," he apologizes. 

He scrutinizes him for a second. "Don't worry about it, sorry to just push you into the deep end here but there's no time."

"Taeyong?"

He startles. "Yeah?"

"You mind taking him to his room?"

"No problem."

"Thanks, and Jungwoo can you stop fucking staring?" 

 

⚡ 

They’re walking past cabins, the glow of the late afternoon sun warming both their necks as they trudge along a neatly paved path. Jaehyun has a bag of toiletries under his arm, courtesy of the camp canteen ran by a boy named Yuta. The mischievous look in his eyes caused Jaehyun to make a mental note to double check that his toothbrush was sealed.

His left arm occasionally grazes Taeyong's, both boys murmuring apologizes and rapidly moving their arms away each time it happens. It's been three minutes before Jaehyun makes a move to speak. 

"So what did Doyoung mean earlier. About marks and stuff?" 

Taeyong moves his attention from watching a blond haired boy grow literal sunflowers to Jaehyun. 

"Oh, that? Yeah well. When your parental god decides to claim you, you get a floating mark above your head. You must have had a lightning bolt. Wish I could have seen it," he kicks a rock. 

Jaehyun figures he must have been too busy trying not to shit his pants to notice it. He makes a noise of acknowledgement, eyes turning to a tall boy rapidly waving a hammer in their direction. His arms looks like it’s about to fall off, hammer dangerously close to flying away. He doesn’t miss the wince from Taeyong as he hesitantly waves back. 

“What? That your ex?” he jokes. 

“Something like that.”

Foot meet mouth.

“Oh sorry bout that.” 

Taeyong hums in response, slipping back into the silence. Jaehyun just determines that he’s not a big talker and uses the opportunity to openly gawk at the camp. From the corner of his eye he catches Jungwoo riding a glistening white horse, wielding a spear at a practice dummy. 

Did they actually expect him to do that? The last time Jaehyun attempted to ride a horse it took off with a gallop from the horseback sunset tour. He was 17 and had cried. He tenses up, averting his gaze to look at the cabins aligning the path. 

In all honesty, he doesn't know why Taeyong keeps inciting on calling them cabins when they more so resemble mini houses. He’s particularly drawn to a pink house, fumes of pink clouds escaping from the front door when Taeyong clears his throat. 

“Well this is you.” 

He stops in front of what Jaehyun can only describe as a mini McMansion. He drinks in the sharp white lines, the golden accents, the carved eagles in columns supporting the building. His jaw drops. 

“Don’t you think this a bit…”

“Tacky?”

Taeyong lets out a small gasp, hand coming up to his mouth with eyes looking up wildly toward the sky. “I didn’t mean that!” He apologizes toward the sky looking half intent to kneel on his knees and beg for forgiveness. 

“Clearly you did, and can you stop acting like you’re going to get struck by a bolt of lightning any second?” Jaehyun means it as a joke but by the state of Taeyong’s affronted pout he sees it doesn't go over well. 

“You shouldn’t disrespect the gods,” Taeyong says solemnly. A low rumble of thunder erupts from the seemingly clear sky in agreement. Taeyong lets out a yelp, arms over his head as he jumps to lay on the ground. 

“Please don’t kill me!” 

Jaehyun stares at his cowering frame, amused when nothing happens. Taeyong looks up with wide eyes, “Am I dead?” 

“No but you look pathetic,” he smirks, leaving him to scramble off the ground, dirt coating his clothes. He climbs the marble steps to press open against a seemingly gold door. 

“Wow, this is really nice.” Jaehyun lets out a low whistle, taking in the white and gold interior. “How come all the other houses don’t look like this? Budget cuts?” he drops his bag on an empty bed. 

“Well Zeus _is_ god of all the olympians,” Taeyong is standing at the door, too nervous to step past the entrance. “All the cabins here were meant to encompass our godly parents. Yours just happens to have...elaborate taste,” he shrugs, distaste in his eyes as he catches sight of the solid gold statue of Zeus flexing dead center in the cabin. 

“So where are the rest of my siblings?” he claps his hands together, ready to introduce himself. Jaehyun has always been good at ice breakers, he’s ready to play some cliche camp name games when he realizes the astounding emptiness of the cabin. 

“About that,” Taeyong’s smile tightens. “You don’t exactly have any siblings,” Jaehyun’s face falls. He doesn’t miss that Taeyong is quick to add, “that are alive” to the end of his statement. 

“Oh that’s, alright. Only sibling, I can work with that,” he claps his hands together, the sound echoing in the empty space. 

Taeyong still lingers at the door. “I have more than enough siblings, they all hog the mirror. It’s better this way,” he clears his throat. “Anyways, I think Jungwoo left you some dinner,” he points toward a plastic wrapped sandwich with a heart shaped pink note laying on a side dresser. 

“Before I leave, I just wanted to say sorry again about earlier, I shouldn’t have used my powers on you,” he lowers his head, hair covering his face. “So if you didn’t want to talk to me again after this, I would understand,” his voice is impossibly soft. 

Jaehyun feels like he should apologize at this point, his heart clenching at the scene. “No, dude, uh don’t worry about it. I was the one who was about to pikachu the shit out of you,” he laughs to himself, noticing Taeyong’s firm frown. 

“Er, don’t worry. Apology accepted,” he rubs his left arm. Taeyong seems relieved, a shy smile breaking across his face. 

“Good to hear,” he tilts his head, tongue between his teeth as he eyes the inside of the building once more. He wrinkles his nose in disgust, eyes turning back to the boy in front of him. 

“So I’ll see you tomorrow morning, breakfast?”

“I guess so.”

Taeyong turns to leave, Jaehyun imagines a cloud of pink dust following his feet. He snaps out of his haze when he feels his stomach rumble. 

“Wait, fuck, Taeyong! Where’s breakfast? Hold on!” 

⚡ 

He spends the rest of the evening to himself, too hesitant to step outside although he can hear the whispered chattering of high pitched voices. Jaehyun thinks he might be one of the most polite people he knows, but manners be damned. He just got his shit rocked, manners on pause for the next 24 hours, or until he finds a toothbrush that doesn’t smell like the inside of a toilet bowl. 

After unpacking, packing, unpacking again and choosing his favorite bed he finally plops down, soft down blankets enveloping him. He had already eaten his sandwich as soon as Taeyong left, cheeks burning red after reading Jungwoo’s obscene love note telling Jaehyun exactly what he plans to do with his lightning rod given the chance. 

He stares at the ceiling, admiring the golden constellations drawn in shimmering paint. He vaguely recognizes one called “Cygnus” although he can’t recall how he ever learned that useless bit of information. 

In the end, Jaehyun can’t help but worry about his mother, questions swirling in his head as he tries to process the days events. Sleep can’t help but catch up to him, the exhaustion from today’s events making his heads cloudy with sleep. He tries to fight the haze but the soft chirping of crickets finally lulls him to sleep, thoughts of his mother’s warm smile and Doyoung brandishing a sword replaying in his head. 

That night he dreams of pink eyes, pink hair, pink lips, and a woman with a dog’s head ordering a vanilla latte .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's chapter 1! thank u for reading!
> 
> follow me on [ twt](https://twitter.com/nctrox) and bug me on [cc](https://curiouscat.me/nctrox)
> 
> feedback is always appreciated :D


	2. unicorns are scary, ok?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave it to me to post in the middle of the night...  
> thank u to everyone who read this..ily all... here's chapter 2!

“Do you think he’s dead.”

“He’s not dead, look at his chest, he’s breathing.”

“I dunno..he looks pretty dead to me.” 

Jaehyun stirs in bed, wearily blinking his eyes as he tries to make out the blurry image before him. He had a dreamless sleep, a blessing in disguise, but was still perturbed to be awakened abruptly by strangers. Two skinny figures are at the end of his bed, conspiring with each other in hushed tones. 

“You think we should throw a bucket of water or something on him? They do that in the movies.”

“Don’t do that!” The high pitched squeak Jaehyun lets out startles them all. He kicks off the sheets, scrambling to get out of bed before he’s given an ice bucket challenge. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he stares at the scene in front of him. “Who are you? Are you even allowed to be here?” He lets out a strangled yawn, staring back at two shining faces. 

“I’m Chenle,” the shorter one points at his chest before turning to his partner. “That’s Jisung, Taeyong told us to escort you to breakfast.” Jisung, tall and lanky, is now snooping through the cabin, disinterested in the exchange between Jaehyun and Chenle.

“Escort? Is that really necessary? He told me where it was last night,” Jaehyun crosses his arms, frowning as the two boys exchange a look. After successfully chasing Taeyong down last night, Jaehyun had his first proper 5 minute rundown of camp etiquette, he was irked that Taeyong had so much doubt that he was going to fuck up that he sent his two crooks. 

“Oh, well, breakfast is in the forest today,” Jisung finally speaks, tilting his head to give Jaehyun a small smile. “It’s kind of confusing to get there, so we offered to walk you. We hope that’s okay,” his voice is soft. Chenle smiles, moving to stand next to Jisung. They look like the perfect picture of youth and innocence. He finds himself smiling back, easily agreeable.

“Just give me a minute to change?” he’s already turning to the small stalk of clothes Taeyong had lent him. He hears the door to the cabin slam, “We’ll just be outside!” Chenle chimes out. 

Jaehyun examines the clothes, frowning when he realizes they’re not exactly going to fit. He manages to shrug into the “I survived the Dragon Attack of 2017” shirt, forgoing Taeyong’s too tight jeans to pull on his old pair. He makes a mental note to search for clothes later, maybe his mom can send him a care package, he makes another note to ask Doyoung if care packages are a thing. 

Without a phone and deeming his wallet useless, Jaehyun lumbers down the stairs, shocked to see the previously empty flower beds blooming with light periwinkle colored flowers. Chenle is kneeling on the ground, hand outreached to a flower that blooms toward his hand. “You like? It’s saffron, Zeus did something with it, I didn’t pay attention to the story,” he shrugs. “It was my idea,” Jisung whines, slapping his arm. “Yeah, but you can’t grow flowers,” Chenle is smug, ignoring the pout of his friend’s face.

Jaehyun feels oddly touched, his cheeks warming at the kind gesture. “Thanks,” he manages. 

“Your cabin is kind of ugly anyway. If you want to see a real cabin, I’ll show you Demeter’s garden,” Chenle brushes the dirt off his jeans, moving to stand up. Jinsung nods his head in agreement, fidgeting impatiently as he edges closer toward the direction of the forest. “Can we go now? I’m hungry,” he whines. 

The cabins of the camp form an upside down horseshoe, or as Jisung points out, an omega symbol. Jaehyun’s own residence happens to be the center of it all, giving him a full view of the camp ground. He admires the view for a minute, taking in the glistening lake to the left before Jisung is tugging at his shirt. They quickly start to trek down a path behind the cabins, a promised 10 minute walk to their destination. Jaehyun feels weary that a forest is quite literally their backyard but Jisung and Chenle reassure him it’s completely safe. 

He’s content to listen to them chatter about how fun Camp NCT is, especially during late spring. “You’ve come at the perfect time,” Jisung reaches toward a broken stick, using it to poke his blonde counterpart in the process. “Yeah the perfect time,” Chenle lunges forward to pinch him in retaliation. 

Jaehyun feels himself age at least 10 years watching them take turns putting each other into a chokehold. At this point, he’s not sure who’s the chaperone here. When he catches Chenle sticking his fingers up Jisung’s nose, he intervenes, “Why is it so perfect?” 

Both boys stop fighting, turning to look at him with excited expressions. “Because we have our summer games. It’s like, the Olympics,” Chenle boasts, “but totally better. The Olympics doesn’t have an obstacle course with fireballs,” Jisung clarifies. “But since you don’t have any siblings you’re probably going to lose,” Chenle is smug, “I have a ton so... can’t relate!” Jisung and Jaehyun both shoot him a dirty look. 

Jaehyun nudges his shoulder, “So he’s a son of Demeter?” he’s been dredging up every piece of information stored in his mind about Greek mythology. Judging from the flowers curving their stems toward him, he doubts he’s not off the mark. “Yeah,” Jisung holds his finger out, a literal butterfly coming out to land on his digit. Jaehyun gapes. 

“So that makes you..”

“Son of Hebe? Goddess of youth,” Jisung blinks at him with wide eyes. 

Jaehyun thinks he just stepped into a Snow White remake.

“Right of course,” he scoffs, as if that should have been obvious. He decides to close his mouth as Chenle and Jisung skip ahead, figuring it would just be easier to shut up and follow at this point. 

They’re completely surrounded by trees, the path leading them into the forest lost as they break across their own path. “You sure we’re going to right way?” Jaehyun titters, eyes flickering to a particularly threatening looking bush. He realizes with a pang that there’s no way to protect himself, his only solid line of defense is Tweeddledee and Twiddledum in the odd case a blood thirsty deer, no _dragon_ , were to approach. 

Fuck. 

He’s got his hands stuffed in his pockets, stomach already rumbling when he notices the giggles of Chenle and Jisung have completely disappeared without him noticing. His incessant worrying about the dangers of the forrest had led him to be completely oblivious to their shenanigans. 

“Guys?” he twists his body around, eyes frantically scanning his surroundings to see they’re gone without a trace. He can feel his heart drop into his stomach the exact moment he hears the faint sounds of giggles and shushing. 

“I can’t believe he fell for that.”  
“Gotttttttem!” 

Great, he was being hazed by the two youngest people he’s met at camp so far. Jaehyun curses his flaw to trust nearly everyone he meets before having a mental breakdown. 

_Alright, think_ he wills himself, utterly lost as he turns in the direction of where he thought he heard their voices echo from. They hadn’t been walking long at all, ten minutes at the most. Jaehyun figures if he can find the path, he can make his way back to camp in no time. Besides, Chenle and Jisung wouldn’t have willingly led them into the forest if it was dangerous, there had to be a rule against that somewhere. 

Ten minutes later and Jaehyun thinks he’s getting warmer. Does he vaguely remember the wide rock next to a patch of wildflowers he thought were pretty or were those daisies? The early morning sun is beating down, the heat only aiding his anxiety and finally convincing himself that he’s lost. Jaehyun racks his brain for any information about being stranded in the woods. Unfortunately, the closest thing he’s read to a survival book was the Hunger Games.

He’s cursing this stupid camp when he trips over a fallen branch, landing face first in damp soil and crunchy leaves. _Some demigod I am._ , Jaehyun thinks as he moves to stand up. His clothes are covered in a layer of dirt, the odd pine needle stuck to his clothing. He’s too busy picking it off to notice he’s not alone.

Finally lifting up his head he makes eye contact with gleaming blue eyes. All his brain manages to process is that the animal has a gleaming gold and silver horn, one that could easily pierce him. He takes a step back before he’s yelling in the manliest way he can muster, and absolutely booking it the _fuck out of there_. 

 

 

When he arrives at the mess hall, he’s covered in sweat, chest heaving as he takes in big gulps of air. He has one hand against a marble column, head between his knees as he struggles to breathe. Jaehyun didn’t think he could run that fast and in retrospect, he finally makes note that the animal didn’t bother to chase him down. He’ll keep that to himself. 

Finally looking up he sees that he’s interrupted a speech, the entirety of camp staring at him in bemusement. Go figure.

At the head table, a man not too older than himself is staring him down, Jaehyun wishes the silence would swallow him whole. It’s not until a low catcall, from Jungwoo no less, breaks the silence. “Nice of you to join us, in your finest no less,” he speaks dryly. Jaehyun can feel the scratch marks on his skin from the branches on the tree, but upon glancing down he sees he’s covered in a fine layer of dirt, shirt ripped in multiple places. 

He curses to himself before the head of the camp, or so Jaehyun assumes, speaks again, “Well take your time to your seat, I forgot we’re in the presence of someone so... special,” his quip gets a few muffled laughs from the crowd. Jaehyun puts his head down and shuffles to his designated marble table, empty and in front of his bully no less.

"Like I was saying," he shoots Jaehyun a look, "capture the flag will be held tonight in the arena," his announcement gets a few cheers from the crowd. "To kick off our 10th annual summer games, I want to remind you that rules are the same as always, that means no purposely maiming your opponents," he shoots a look toward the Ares cabin, Jaehyun catches a girl flipping him off under the table. 

"One win will count as one point toward your overall score for your cabin," the mess hall breaks out into excited chattering, quickly dying off when the head honcho holds up one palm. "A few changes, Lucas will no longer be able to participate,"

"What's up with that man," a lanky boy stands up from his lone table, arms up in protest.

"As the literal son of Victory, it would be unfair if you participated," a few people mumble in agreement.

Lucas sits down, arms crossed. "However, you'll be allowed to referee," he perks up, "with Kun," Lucas deflates once more, his " _nemesis ruins my vibes"_ " heard clearly.

"With that, enjoy the rest of your breakfast. The event schedule will be posted outside of the arena along with teams, blah blah blah," he turns on his heel, clearly exasperated with the crowd of young adults ignoring him to gossip among themselves.

It's been no longer than 15 seconds after he disappears that Doyoung pops up.

“Here eat up,” he slides a banana on the table, sitting across from him.

"Aren't you supposed to be sitting with your siblings?" Jaehyun picks up the fruit pitifully, examining it carefully before peeling it.

He's noticed that campers are taking the last of the food back to the kitchen to clean. Jaehyun feels his stomach rumble, mournfully taking another bite of his banana and internally cursing Chenle and Jisung for making him miss breakfast.

Doyoung shrugs, "I'm just checking in on you. Did you settle in alright? Why were you so late?" he presses. Jaehyun shoots a look toward his antagonizers, both sitting at their respective tables. When he makes eye contact with Chenle he mirrors the perfect look of innocence Jisung has.

He snorts.

"I was tricked," he decides.

Doyoung rolls his eyes. "You let _them_ trick you? Man, you're more gullible than I thought," he muses. Jaehyun considers tossing his empty banana peel at him. "Sorry, I didn't realize that I wasn't supposed to trust people my first day, my bad, maybe next time I'll get the welcome brochure," he scoffs. Doyoung face brightens, reaching for a paper sticking out of his back pocket. "Thanks for reminding me! I almost forgot," he hands Jaehyun a pamphlet, bright pink letters blazing _So you're a demigod, what now?_

Jaehyun sighs, sliding it into his own pocket, making a mental note to read it later when he's alone. He's about to ask Doyoung where the nearest McDonald's is before Taeyong is sliding in next to him, a plate of food accompanying him, "Here, it's not much but I noticed you weren't here so I grabbed you something," he shrugs.

He's never thought angels were real but seeing Taeyong with a plate of eggs and fruit makes him reconsider his faith. He's digging in, mouth full of eggs to the point where it's a choking hazard when he catches Taeyong watching him with an amused smile. 

He struggles to swallow and gives him a sheepish smile, pleasantly surprised to see when Taeyong returns it. “You sleep okay?” his lower lip is pouted. “Yeah, thanks for the shirt,” Jaehyun gestures toward his attire. “I’ll make sure to wash it,” he’s painfully aware of the cumulation of dirt he’s collected. 

“You can keep it,” Taeyong decides. His eyes linger for too long, “It looks better on you anyways,” Jaehyun is fumbling to think of a compliment before Doyoung lets out a yelp of surprise that pops their little bubble. 

A blonde boy with choppy hair is sending a sharp smile toward Jaehyun, eyes gleaming. Jaehyun recognizes him as the boy who gave him his overnight pack from the canteen. He scowls, swallowing before he greets him warily. "Yuta, was it?" he slides his food closer to him, watching the boy carefully in case he decides to mess with him further.

"That's me!" he chirps, turning toward Doyoung. "Look at you rulebreaker, sitting where you don't belong," he sounds proud as he digs his fingers harder in the boy's shoulders. "You should do it more, you're too tense," he starts to massage him now, a fat smirk on his face.

"Can you stop that," Doyoung swats at him, face flustered as he scoots away from Yuta. The boy only rolls his eyes, moving to sit next to Doyoung. "So what are we gossiping about?" he sounds bored, snatching a fruit off Jaehyun's plate.

"I was asking him why he was late-"

"Oh my god, it was because of the toothbrush wasn't it? Man, that's a classic," he shakes his head in bemusement, clearly proud of himself. "I'm guessing you found the itching powder in your pillowcase as well?"

"What, no?" Yuta's face falls, quickly feigning interest in his fingernails.

Jaehyun feels his head twirl, doing his best to tune out Taeyong gently chastising Yuta for tormenting new kids. By the sound of it, it wasn't the first time, Jaehyun highly doubted it would be the last.

"I was late because….I saw a monster," Jaehyun declares. He feels rather brave when three sets of heads turn to look at him in surprise.

"A monster?" Taeyong worries, bottom lip between his teeth as he glances at Doyoung. Even Yuta looks concerned, leaning toward him in interest. "Can you describe what it looked like? How you got away?" he asks gently. Jaehyun tries to ignore the hand he's placed on his forearm.

"Well, it had these creepy blue eyes and a horn. Kind of resembled a horse, maybe?" he recalls, taking another bite of his food.

"Was it white," Doyoung asks slowly. Jaehyun nods. "Was the horn..shiny?" he inquires further, his face pinched.

"Yeah, why? I'm surprised that it didn't follow me either," he shakes his head in amazement, "I ran for my life." When he's greeted with silence he wonders if he did something wrong. Was he supposed to fight back? "What?"

"That was a fucking unicorn," Yuta states.

"We have unicorns in the forest?" Taeyong turns to Doyoung.

"It's never been caught," Doyoung admits.

Yuta is breathing harder, face turning red before he erupts into a fit of laughter. "You saw a _unicorn_ and you ran?" he's holding onto his stomach, body racking. He's waving his hand now, twisting his body, "Hey Ten, come over here," he calls out.

A lithe boy slinks their way, eyes bored as they examine the scene. "Sup?" He's holding his own tray of food, deciding to perch next to Yuta on the bench.

"Jaehyun saw a unicorn and thought it was a monster," Yuta wheezes. Jaehyun clenches his fists at the sight of tears slipping from his eyes. Now that he thinks about it, he did act rashly but did they really expect him to have taken a Unicorns 101 course before coming here?

"He didn't know, it's his first day here, Taeyong defends him, Jaehyun shoots him a smile. Take that Yuta! "Yeah, he hasn't taken classes yet, it's no wonder he ran away," Doyoung frowns. Wait, classes? Jaehyun internally groans.

“You saw a unicorn and you ran away? You’re pathetic,” Ten shoots him a look of disgust, grabbing his plate of food and standing up with a huff. “Just so you all know, the standards have really lowered for recruits,” he looks over at a table with a lone boy pouring over a thick book,

“Hey Taeil,” the boys head snaps up. “New kid saw a unicorn and didn’t bother to bring it back to camp,” the disappointed look Jaehyun receives is going to scar him for a week. 

“Not even a shaving of unicorn horn?” Taeil asks mournfully. Jaehyun nods his head "no" earning a set of groans. Jaehyun scoffs indignantly, "I've been here for less than 24 hours!" his exclamation is fallen on deaf ears.

"Some son of Zeus.."

"Who runs away from a unicorn?"

"I hope he's not on my team for tonight."

"Jaehyun, baby, you have something on your chin," a low voice breaks through the verbal flaming he's receiving. He whips his head to be met with a familiar smile. "Where did you come from?" he's perplexed as Jungwoo dabs away at his chin. Jaehyun swats him away, looking toward Taeyong for help who watches with an amused smile, he shrugs his shoulders as if to say _I can't help you there buddy._

He finally decides on dropping his head, both hands over his flushed ears. "Doyoung, didn't you say something about classes? Learning or something," he can hear the boy visibly brighten up at the mention of academics.

"You're right!" he's grabbing Jaehyun’s forearm, practically yanking him over the table. "But first we have to meet with Director Kibum, he's looking forward to meeting with you!" Jaehyun feels the smile sliding off his face. 

“Good luck with that lightning boy,” Yuta singsongs, picking over the leftovers on Jaehyun’s plate. 

“Yuta stop making him worry,” he hears Taeyong scold, the sound of Yuta letting out a yelp is music to Jaehyun’s ears.

 

  
Doyoung ends up dragging him to the main cabin, or more accurately, a charming looking farmhouse surrounded by shrubbery. "Our main office, essentially," he explains. "Kibum uses it for business."

"Business?" Jaehyun asks. In the back of his mind, he had been wondering how a camp this big was able to finance itself.

"Yeah, well while the gods have..bestowed us with enough money to keep us afloat. Kibum has a side business, to pay for other amenities. Like our brand new arena! No one's really sure what he does though..." Doyoung's voice drops low. "It might be illegal."

"Who is this Kibum dude exactly?" he inquires, his stomach turning at thoughts of some mob boss kicking his ass for interrupting his speech.

"Oh Kibum? He's just a really gifted demigod, son of Poseidon actually, that the god's trust enough to watch over us. He's been blessed with like, eternal youth from Hebe herself. Rumor has it he saved Calypso herself, although no one really knows the full story. You really shouldn't worry, Jaehyun," he assures him.

Jaehyun gulps and continues to follow Doyoung's steps. He's soon led inside the house, admiring the mythological creature decor before Doyoung is opening two wide doors of an office.

The man who had publicly embarrassed Jaehyun is sitting with his legs crossed reading the _Olympian Times_. He doesn't put the paper down until Doyoung clears his throat, only choosing to do so slowly. "Well if it isn't my favorite son of Ares!" he exclaims.

"It's Athena-"

"And what, a son of Zeus, it's been what," he looks toward Doyoung, "2 years since we last had one?" Doyoung nods tersely. "Such a shame we lost him to the Dragon Incident of 2017," he stares at Jaehyun's shirt, the room taking a moment of silence before perking up again.

Kibum claps his hands, smiling impishly. "Since there's no imminent danger toward the camp this year, it's an honor you can join us," he waves his arms as he swivels on his chair. "Usually the camp is under attack, or at war," he drums his fingers against the desk. "The camp hasn't had a peaceful summer for _years_ " he rolls his eyes in annoyance. Right, Jaehyun could totally relate. “So it’s a blessing we’re finally able to breathe, thank Zeus.” 

"However, it's fair to warn you that when all children of the Big Three inhabit the camp, bad things tend to happen," his voice trails off. "I have high hopes for this summer!"

"Wait, who else?" Jaehyun looks toward Doyoung. There's a pregnant pause as he chooses his words carefully. "Mark, is currently visiting his father right now," he decides. Jaehyun's brain slowly puts together the puzzle pieces before his eyes are widening. "You have a camper in the underworld right now?" he exclaims. "Isn't that dangerous?" 

"Nonsense," Kibum dismisses his concern. "Mark is perfectly capable of taking care of himself, unlike someone else before me," he narrows his eyes at Jaehyun. Oh right, he hopes that Kibum hadn't heard of the unicorn incident, by the looks he's getting from both men he's sure he's close to bursting into flames.

“Normally our campers join us at a younger age, I’m sure you’ve read the brochure? Well, I've contacted Olympus to see why you were so cleverly concealed for all this time. You see, a son of Zeus has a certain scent."

"A scent?" Jaehyun doesn't think he smells too appetizing. When Doyoung and Kibum aren’t looking he quickly sniffs his arm, frowning when he smells nothing interesting.

"Yes, to a monster, Doyoung," he points, "would smell like, a nice home cooked meal." Doyoung preens, smiling to himself.

"But you, you would smell like, a five-star meal with six courses. You might as well have a flashing sign that says 'eat me', much more appetizing than him," he waves a hand again at Doyoung who's now scowling.

"So why didn't they notice you? Well, you had a blessing from the big man himself, but the minute you were involved in a monster fight, that blessing was broken," he titters. "What a shame, you could have potentially lived your whole life in camouflage if it wasn't for your pesky friend here," they both turn to stare at Doyoung who's holding both hands up. "Was I supposed to let him die?"

"Well it would be one less mouth to feed," he lips quirks up into a smile. "Regardless, you're here, and you should train," he thinks for a minute, "and study. Doyoung you're in charge of him, congratulations!" he claps his hands together.

"I'm assuming you're here to call your mom?" Jaehyun starts, face brightening for the first time he stepped into the office. "Yeah, er, yes. Do you have a cell phone?" he's already extending one hand out before a golden coin in pressed into his hand. "I'll do you one better," Kibum’s eyes gleam.

 

⚡

 

Jaehyun has barely left the main office, promises of Kibum to teach him sword fighting at a later date, and the face of his mother fresh in his mind. His chest already feels lighter, emotions settled after talking to his mother and having questions sorted out.

His mother had all but confirmed what he had been told, he was a son of Zeus. They had both cried, her apologizing profusely for never telling him, Jaehyun in tears because he was a sympathetic crier. On the bright side, she had promised to meet him in the city sometime soon, of course, with supervision as Doyoung was quick to remind

.He's walking aimlessly, figuring he could check the outside of the arena to see what all this fuss about teams was about. It's a large stadium really, domed and intimidating. 

"Hey Jaehyun!" he turns around, facing a flustered girl. "Hi, Wendy. Half sister of Doyoung." she talks rapidly, a piece of paper animatedly waving in her hand. "He's getting his ass chewed out by Kibum for passing out in battle and wanted me to give this to you," she shoves the crumpled paper toward him. "I have paperwork to do, so I'll see you 'round?" she makes a face, already running back to the farmhouse. 

"Nice to meet you too," he mocks, turning his eyes toward the paper. Internally he groans, noticing Doyoung's work a mile away. 

 

 _JAEYHUN'S GUIDE TO BECOMING A PROPER DEMIGOD IN 12 WEEKS OR LESS_ as written by Doyoung, son of Athena. 

8:00 Breakfast at Mess hall (no more sitting with friends!)  
9:00 A Brief Introduction to Greek History  
10:00 Learning Greek for Dummies  
12:00 Lunch  
13:00 Weapon Training (just go to the arena, someone will help you)  
15:00 Jardio with Jongin!  
17:00 Dinner  
18:00 Camp Activities  
23:00 Get to Bed (seriously, or the cleaning harpy’s will eat you) 

He glances down at the watch he’s been gifted by the director himself, cursing when he realizes that he’s already missed history and is running late to his language lesson. He shoots up a prayer to whatever god is listening and absolutely books it toward the outside pavilion Doyoung had instructed him to visit. 

 

⚡

 

His language lesson had been taught by another child of Athena, a boy named Jaemin who looked like he was going to murder Jaehyun when he fumbled over words. Truthfully the language looked like it would come easy to him, the symbols clicking in his head. It was Jaemin breathing over his shoulder had him fumbling with his words in nervousness. 

After lunch, eaten alone, he’s contemplating how he’s going to make it through four hours of straight training. He can feel his lunch bubbling in his stomach the minute he enters the weapon room of the Arena. 

Immediately he’s greeted by the tall boy he had seen waving at Taeyong last night. “Hey Jaehyun,” his smile is warm. “I’m Johnny, I’m here to help you pick out a weapon,” he explains, already reaching toward a set of intricate armor. 

“Why you?” Jaehyun blurts out. “Sorry, I mean like…” Johnny shoves a helmet over his head, in response, letting out a pleased hum when it’s a near perfect fit. “Nah, it’s cool,” he’s draping metal chest armor over Jaehyun. “I’ve been studying with the Cyclops themselves when it comes to forging weapons. Aside from being a son of Hephaestus and all, I’ve been blessed by the gods themselves,” he’s humble, that’s for sure. 

“We’re just going to test what weapons work for you best, alright? Now let’s go hit some practice dummies,” Johnny slaps him on the back, effectively knocking out all of his air. 

“Yeah sounds like...yeah sounds good,” Jaehyun fumbles with his armor, awkwardly clunking alongside Johnny’s long strides.

He tries to ignore the people sparring around him, obviously well versed in weapons by the ease of their finesse. Ten is throwing a spear to the boy across him, hissing when he expertly twists his body back to dodge it. 

“Don’t pay attention to Sicheng,” Johnny rolls his eyes. “He’s just a show-off and a son of Ares.” 

“And a fucking cheater,” Ten grits between clenched teeth as Sicheng twirls two swords in his hands gracefully. Sicheng frowns, “I don’t cheat,” his voice is soft as he jumps toward Ten with lightning quick speed. 

Johnny ushers him along, positioning him toward a practice dummy in the likeliness of Medusa. “We’re just trying to find out the weapon that works best for you,” he pats his shoulder. “Now I want you to look at the weapon rack and choose the weapon that best fits you,” Jaehyun steps toward the wall of weapons, hand outreached in contemplation. 

“Any weapon?” he’s unsure, hand skimming over a set of daggers. “If it helps you can close your eyes and see what calls out to you?” Johnny suggests, leaning against a column. 

Jaehyun closes his eyes and waits for a sign, anything really, he’s irked when there’s no thunder or lightning sparks to indicate which weapon to choose. In the end, he keeps coming back to a spear, dusting off the dust before weighing it in his hands. 

“A dory? Awesome! That's real celestian bronze too, you know?” Johnny looks pumped. “Great for long range, a bit tricky for close combat fighting, but it’ll be no challenge for a son of Zeus,” he claps his hands.

“I wish people would stop saying that,” Jaehyun mumbles as he tries to twirl the weapon in his hand.”

“Most people would kill to have the type of power a son of Zeus has,” Johnny’s voice is suddenly low, all friendliness gone. “You might not want what you have, but you should learn to appreciate it or at least hone your abilities” he’s standing behind Jaehyun, moving his body in the correct stance. 

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Jaehyun exhales. He’s feeling like the biggest piece of shit, body slumping with embarrassment. Johnny nudges him to stand up straight. “Then how did you mean it?” when Jaehyun doesn’t answer he drops the subject.

“Alright you just need to throw now. Try imagining hitting that target in your mind and willing it to happen,” he suggests. 

Jaehyun inhales, figuring he should do as Johnny suggested and practicing. Besides he was essentially trapped at this camp for the rest of the summer unless he had a death wish. When he finally releases the sword he’s pleasantly surprised to see he’s at least pierced the target. 

“Well it’s a start,” Johnny claps him on the shoulder, “Now let’s try that about 200 more times,” Jaehyun wants to wipe the cheery smile off his face as he thinks about the shoulder soreness he’s going to suffer later. 

 

 

By the time he has training with Jongin, a beyond handsome son of Eros who is the pinnacle of health and beauty, Jaehyun is ready to collapse with exhaustion. He tries hard to hate his instructor but one smile and Jaehyun is willing to drop and give him twenty. 

“It’ll just be us and Sehun today, hope that’s alright!” Jongin nods his head at an even more attractive man, lazily lounging on a stone bench. “Before we start, any questions?” Jaehyun nods once, clearing his throat, “Yeah why is it called Jardio?”

Sehun finally speaks up, voice incredibly low, “Because his name starts with a J? Obviously,” his scoff could be heard around the entire tri-state area. Oh right, Jaehyun nods lamely at the older boys, wincing at the bright smile Jongin is sending his way. 

“I sent everyone else for a run. I just wanted to see where you were fitness wise without the pressure of people watching you,” Jongin explains. He’s fiddling with a panel on the wall. After entering a series of buttons, Jaehyun notices a portion of the arena has transformed itself into an obstacle course. 

He points at the course, then at himself, unable to form words as he gapes at a bubbling lava pit. “Huh?” is the only thing he can muster. Jongin is smiling to himself, arms crossed as he appraises the spiked rock wall. 

“You’re allowed to use your powers, of course, we’re not monsters,” he lets out an airy laugh. “I set it on the beginner level, so I don’t think it’ll be too difficult for a son of Zeus,” Jongin slaps Jaehyun on the back. 

“Oh, right totally,” Jaehyun holds back his tears.

Sehun is stretching to the left of him, eyeing him with fascination as Jongin begins to countdown. "Alright you're going to climb the rock wall, make sure you avoid the flying knives, and just take it home from there!" he shoots a thumbs up in encouragement.

"He's totally going to die," Sehun deadpans.

"And go!"

When the rest of the campers return, Jaehyun is laying on the floor, a portion of his hair singed off from where he nearly fell face first into the lava pit. Jongin is fretting over him, “nothing to see here!” he squeaks out. 

He’s staring at the ceiling miserably when a familiar set of brown eyes blink at him owlishly. “What happened to you?” Taeyong lifts the hem of his shirt to wipe off his sweat. The sliver of skin he exposes only worsens Jaehyun's pain.

“Sehun told me I was on fire,” he whispers. “I don’t think he meant it literally,” the sound of Taeyong’s laughter makes him contemplate if it was worth it. 

“Well would it make you feel better if I snuck you a treat before dinner?” Taeyong teases. 

Jaehyun is already on his feet, “Well hurry up?”

 

He’s munching on a pink frosted cookie reading his welcome brochure when a stack of books are dropped in front of his meal. He looks up with wide eyes, heart thundering from surprise. “Hello to you too,” he drops the brochure to pick up “Unicorns and Where to Find Them.”

“That’s a gift from Ten,” Doyoung smiles, obviously content to spread knowledge. “I just wanted to lend you a few books, since you’re behind and all,” he glances toward the head table where Kibum is eyeing their exchange, daring Doyoung to sit down. 

“Walk with me to capture the flag, later?” Jaehyun nods his head in agreement. “Alright, then, I’ll see you then,” Jaehyun thumbs through the book, brain already tired from the extra slack he’s going to have to pick up. He thinks about how easier life would be if he was the son of something easier, like Jeno from Hypnos. The son of sleep, Jaehyun could totally do that! 

A conch shell interrupts his daydream of lounging around in the sun before Doyoung is back and pulling on his arm. “You’re on my team for tonight, before you ask, yes I rigged it,” Jaehyun is fumbling with his books, cursing at Doyoung when a few fumbles out of his grasp. 

“Man forget about the books! This is more important than that!” Jaehyun gapes at him in surprise. More important than books? Where was the stuffy Doyoung he knew and loved? The one who didn’t sleep for a consecutive three days to study for a physics exam. He’s about to accuse him of being possessed before he continues, “I have a battle strategy I spent the whole day working on, and it’s essential you _don’t_ get in the way.”

Ah, that sounds more like the Doyoung he knows and loves. He’s gracious enough to let Jaehyun drop his books off at his cabin (not without letting out loud impatient noises) before he books off in a near sprint to the battle arena. 

Jaehyun doesn’t know how he can explain to Doyoung that he doesn’t have the energy to fight, let alone the expertise for this battle plan of his. He scratches the back of his head, “Doyoung...I can’t fight, you know that right?” 

“Well, the plan is you don’t fight,” he looks at him as if he’s grown a third head. “I just need you to pretend like you do, so people are intimidated. You think you could do that electric magic trick?” Jaehyun doesn’t have the heart to tell Doyoung that half of the camp saw him absolutely eat ass in training today. 

“Lightning sparks, sure,” Jaehyun mutters.

They’ve reached the arena where a poster is blazing in bright yellow letters naming the teams. He barely gets a look before he’s being thrust toward the armory, alright, he doesn’t know his teammates, that’s fine. 

Doyoung is like a harried mother, using the allocated hour of preparation to dress them both in armor. “Is it too tight? Nevermind, forget it, too late, just suck it in.” He’s whizzing around the room, talking to his teammates.

Jaehyun realizes that Taeyong is walking toward him, already armored and holding bow and arrows. He eerily looks like a drawing Jaehyun had once drawn of cupid when he was 7. He’s blushing by the time Taeyong reaches him. 

“You nervous?” he worries. “Don’t worry, we’re by each other. Also, I think Jungwoo would gladly take a sword for you,” he jokes gesturing at the younger boy holding a bow in one hand, spear in the other. 

“Jaehyun! Johnny told me, I had to weasel it out of him, he’s so scary. Taeyong how did you date him? Oh right! Johnny told me to give you a spear,” he’s pressing the weapon into Jaehyun’s palm. "I didn't know you knew how to wield a spear, that's sexy," he looks impressed.

“Thanks Jungwoo,” he’s genuinely touched, testing out the weapon. He figures he's better off if he doesn't correct him that no, he really doesn't know how to wield it. “Anything for you, Jae,” Jungwoo murmurs, looking underneath his lashes. He looks like he's about to say more, a love poem from the way he's gazing at Jaehyun, but Doyoung is clearing his throat for attention.

“Jungwoo, that’s enough! Aphrodite is not just the goddess of flirting and making heart eyes,” Doyoung’s voice captures the room, everyone crowding around the boy standing by a whiteboard. Jaehyun notices a few familiar faces, wincing when Ten bites the air as soon as they make eye contact.

Alright, eyes on Doyoung, message received. 

“You’re all listening? Perfect. Here’s the plan.” 

Jaehyun’s stomach drops when he realizes exactly what Doyoung meant when he said he wouldn't be fighting. He tries not to pay attention to the fat smirks being sent his way and instead rolls his shoulders in faux confidence. He's got this, he reassures himself as his team lets out a battle cry.

He's definitely not ready, he cowers as the gates to the arena begin to open. 

Jaehyun gulps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 2! hope ur all enjoying the slow process of introducing characters, gngkjg im really excited about this and the next chapter (capture the flag action, anyone?) 
> 
> [ twt](https://twitter.com/nctrox) || [cc](https://curiouscat.me/nctrox)
> 
> feedback is always appreciated <3


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